Rescind Delta plan oversight agreement, U.S. lawmakers demand

Five Northern California lawmakers are demanding that the Interior Department withdraw from a key Delta planning agreement because they say it gives farmers in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California "unprecedented influence" at the expense of Delta landowners, salmon fishermen and others. The state and federal governments and a number of water agencies that depend on Delta water signed the agreement two months ago to clear the way for the agencies to commit an additional $100 million for planning and consultant work on a $12 billion aqueduct. It is the centerpiece of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, which the agencies want in order to secure more reliable supplies. The agreement gives the water agencies more access to information and more control over planning than others who have been helping develop the plan, including Delta representatives and environmentalists, the lawmakers said...more